One in Detention, Hundreds on the Road: The Sisters, Wives, and Mothers Toiling on the Path to Redress Grievances

Wu Hua-ying from Fuqing City, Fujian Province, older sister of Wu Chang-lung, defendant in the Fuqing Discipline Inspection Commission explosion case; Nien Chien-lan from P'ingtan County, Fujian Province, older sister of Nien Pin, defendant in the Nien Pin poisoning case; Chu Yu-chen from Huainan, Jiangsu Province, older sister of Chu Yu-lung, defendant in the 'No. 1 Anti-Gangster Case in Huainan'; Chang Huan-chih from Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, mother of Nieh Shu-bin, defendant in the Nieh Shu-bin rape and murder case; 'Aoben Xiaoyang' from Nanyang, Henan Province, younger sister of Yang Chin-te, defendant in the Yang Chin-te mafia case; Chang Ching from Shenyang, Liaoning Province, wife of Hsia Chun-feng, defendant in the case of Hsia Chun-feng stabbing urban management officers to death.

These women are widely known across the mainland's internet. There is only one reason they are known: petitioning and crying out for justice on behalf of their family members.

Their Stories, and the Stories with Them

Wu Chang-lung was criminally detained on July 27, 2001. After more than 100 days of brutally extreme torture unknown to outsiders, which forced a false confession, he was accused of being the principal offender in the 'Fuqing Discipline Inspection Commission explosion case.' The case remained unadjudicated for 12 years, and Wu Chang-lung was detained for 12 years, from the age of 27 to 39. Ever since she learned that her younger brother Wu Chang-lung had been arrested, Wu Hua-ying gave up everything, dedicating herself to only one thing: rescuing her wrongfully accused brother. Over the past 12 years, Wu Hua-ying has traveled across all party, government, and judicial organs in Fujian and Beijing time and time again. The petition materials she has submitted now match her own height, and the remaining train and boat ticket stubs have piled up into a mountain. To seek redress for her brother, Wu Hua-ying disregarded the danger to her life, intercepting the sedans of Fujian provincial party leaders over 40 times to present petitions in person. Over the past 12 years, Wu Hua-ying has been detained four times for petitioning and was wrongfully sentenced to one year in prison for helping other petitioners (the internationally sensationalized 'Fujian Three Netizens Framing Case'). Fortunately, heaven has eyes, and with the joint efforts and assistance of people from all walks of life, Wu Chang-lung, who had been detained for 12 years, was released on bail on February 8, 2013 (the day before Chinese New Year's Eve in the Year of the Dragon), returning home after a 12-year absence to reunite with his family.

Nien Pin, a rural youth running a grocery store in P'ingtan County town to make a living, was targeted by police as the 'poisoner' and arrested after neighbors Ting Yun-hsia and Chen Yen-chiao's families had dinner together on July 27, 2006, following which multiple people suffered poisoning and two children from the Ting family unfortunately died. Nien Pin also stated that he suffered severe torture to extract confessions. Ignoring the fact that there was only a confession without other supporting evidence, and ignoring the numerous unresolved doubts, the two levels of courts in Fujian sentenced Nien Pin to death with immediate execution four times based solely on his confession. Even after the Supreme People's Court refused to approve the death sentence with immediate execution and remanded the case to the Fujian Higher People's Court for retrial, the Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court once again sentenced Nien Pin to death with immediate execution. Now, in mid-April 2013, the second-instance trial of this case will be held in the Fujian Higher People's Court; the outcome remains unpredictable. Meanwhile, Nien Chien-lan has walked the exceptionally arduous path of seeking redress for seven years. For Nien Chien-lan, she has no idea how much longer this road will be, how much more time it will take, or how much more suffering it holds.

Chu Yu-lung was the primary defendant in a 'mafia case' fabricated in Huainan by the former Huainan Public Security Bureau Director Kung [Surname] in order to pledge allegiance to Wang Li-jun of Chongqing by emulating Chongqing's 'anti-gangster model.' This young man, accused of being a 'mafia boss,' was left with a destitute home of ruined walls and shattered tiles. To seek redress for her brother, Chu Yu-chen secretly carried recording equipment to visit the case handlers and witnesses. Everyone said this was a miscarriage of justice, but everyone also said there was nothing they could do because Kung [Surname] was determined to classify her brother's group as a mafia. Through immense hardships, Chu Yu-chen cried out for justice on the internet, drawing public attention and securing the assistance of lawyers. Lawyers from various places formed a massive defense and petition lawyer team to help her. However, seeking redress for a miscarriage of justice is harder than ascending to heaven. On the path of petitioning and on the internet, Chu Yu-chen's solitary yet exceptionally persistent figure can be constantly seen trudging along.

When Can Innocence Arrive?

Nieh Shu-bin was executed in 1995 after being finalized as a 'rapist and murderer' by the Higher People's Court of Hebei Province. Because the case contained numerous doubts and a confession forced through torture, Nieh's mother, Chang Huan-chih, refused to accept the verdict and continuously petitioned and cried out for injustice. In 2005, another death-row inmate, Wang [Surname], confessed that he had committed the rape and murder back then, providing details that closely matched the facts of Nieh's case. However, eight years have passed: Wang [Surname]'s case remains unclosed, and Nieh Shu-bin's case remains unreversed. Chang Huan-chih has run to the Supreme People's Court and the Hebei Higher People's Court time and time again, only to be turned away repeatedly. Across 18 years on the path of redress, Chang Huan-chih has long since run out of tears, leaving only a single thought: return my son's innocence. Yet, she does not know when this innocence will arrive, whether it will come within her lifetime, or whether it will ever come at all.

Yang Chin-te, a private entrepreneur from Nanyang, Henan, was dissatisfied with the court's compulsory enforcement in a civil lawsuit and invited company employees to pull up banners and petition at the court entrance. He was immediately branded as a mafia and subjected to incomparably cruel torture. A retired special forces veteran, he was beaten until both legs were disabled and his entire body was paralyzed, rendering him unable to stand. Lawyer meetings and court hearings were all completed while he lay on a stretcher. The court forcibly sentenced him for mafia crimes, handing down an 18-year prison term. Now in prison, unable to care for himself, he is on the verge of death. Ever since her older brother was arrested, his younger sister, 'Aoben Xiaoyang,' has cried out for justice on his behalf, posted online that she was 'selling herself to save her brother,' traveled all over the country, engaged lawyers, and petitioned for grievances. Exhausted and without results, she continues her daily travels to petition for her brother.

Hsia Chün-feng, a vendor selling grilled mutton skewers on the streets of Shenyang, had a dispute with urban management officers (abbreviated as urban management personnel) after they confiscated his livelihood tool, a vendor cart. He was subsequently taken to an office by several urban management officers and beaten by them. Hsia had no choice but to draw a knife in self-defense, and during the struggle, he used a small knife for cutting grilled sausages to stab two urban management officers to death. Hsia Chün-feng was subsequently sentenced to death with immediate execution, and the case was submitted to the Supreme People's Court for review. This case has drawn immense attention from people nationwide, who focus on the right to survival of people at the bottom of society, the evils of the urban management system, and the natural human rights of legitimate self-defense. Ever since Hsia Chün-feng was arrested, Chang Ching embarked on the long and arduous road to save her husband's life. She has received help from countless people, yet she still awaits the review result of the Supreme People's Court in a fear intertwined with hope and despair, continuing her journey to save her husband's life through sleepless, agonizing nights.

The Stories Continue

There are many, many more women like them. Their stories are happening right now and continuing on. The story of each individual and each family cannot be fully told in several days and nights. Every time I hear or read about their affection, righteousness, grief, and suffering—these catastrophic tragedies—it is hard for me to hold back my tears, and I need to take deep, heavy breaths. Language and text cannot express my feelings; repeated heavy sighs are not enough to bring even a shred of comfort, and boundless sympathy cannot soothe the unease in my heart.

Almost exactly a year ago, at the end of an open letter soliciting netizens' signatures to call for the release of Wu Chang-lung, Wu Hua-ying wrote this: 'Fellow netizens, my brothers and sisters, I am an ordinary woman and an incompetent older sister. For 11 years, I have done everything I could do and given up everything I could give up. I have run through every department I could enter and knelt and begged every official I could see. But I am too insignificant; no matter what, I cannot rescue my helpless and innocent younger brother.'

These are the blood-weeping inner voices of the sisters, younger sisters, mothers, and wives toiling on the path of seeking redress.

April 2013, Beijing